By Catherine-Engstrom Hadley
Staff Writer
Last Wednesday night, dozens of students took to the stage for the annual benefit event for the Peace Neighborhood Center, Stars on Stage. The price of admission was a toy or a monetary donation.
The Towsley Auditorium was filled with families, friends and people from the community excited to see what the students had in store. A video recording of dancers in an all white costume with orange and blue lights reflecting off them started out the show. The evening featured an incredible range of performance, from ballet, to tap, to solo choir performances.
A large group of first year tap dancers blew away the audience, a kid near us tried to stand up and imitate the tap dancers, turning to his mother and declaring “my shoes are broken!”.
Kate Seale was one of the tap dancers on stage. Seale is currently in the nursing school but took tap for stress relief.
“My daughter also dances, so it will be fun to have her watch me dance during the performance” said Seale.
Bihanna Martin performed the song “Focus” impeccably, and the piano accompaniment by Brian Buckner for all the choir performances was beautifully done. A group of belly dancers danced to a modern beat, and the spotlight dance studio got down to a hip hop carol.
Stars on Stage is an annual event, but if you feel like getting involved, over a dozen different performing arts programs are available to you.
“I started coming 5 years ago when my daughter went here, but kept coming because we enjoyed it so much” said Joan Deffer, an Ann Arbor resident. “We can’t wait until next year!”